4 Ιουνίου

We finally put the finishing touches on the video for The Bard’s Tale IV In-Engine Video. The biggest question we get is how we plan to bring the genre forward, and this video should answer the question!

2 Ιουνίου

It's been a long time. Released 30 years ago, Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale was released to glowing reception and quickly became a defining role-playing game of the 80s, inspiring countless games and putting Interplay and Brian Fargo on the map. But it's been many years since we had a follow-up to the series. In 2004, Brian and inXile released The Bard's Tale, a console-oriented spin-off that was well received, but even then the team knew it wasn't necessarily a true follow-up to the classic games.

Now, the same team that brought you Wasteland 2 in 2014 invites you to lend your support once again for The Bard's Tale IV. As a sequel to the original trilogy by Interplay and Brian Fargo, The Bard's Tale IV will revitalize the dungeon crawling and CRPG genres with gorgeous visuals, Gaelic music, and fast-paced dynamic phase-based combat... not to mention all the twisting, mind-bending dungeons you can handle.

The game won't be possible without the backing of our amazing and generous community. On the 30th anniversary of Tales of the Unknown: The Bard's Tale, help us return back to Skara Brae and bring back the dungeon crawl! These kinds of games would not exist under a traditional publishing model, and we need your support to make them a reality. Please lend your aid and back The Bard's Tale IV on Kickstarter today.

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Now includes original classic games The Bard’s Tale 1, 2 & 3!
You are the Bard, a selfish rogue weary of pointless sub-quests and rat-infested cellars. Through magical song you summon characters to join your quest for coin and cleavage!
Prepare to immerse yourself in over 20-30 hours of adventure, featuring:

The creators of The Bard's Tale (2004) said that they wanted to create something special and that's exactly what The Bard's Tale is. The game is something of a fractured fairy-tale and focuses more on poking fun at the fantasy/adventure/rpg genre than creating just another entry in the sea of fantasy rpgs. You play as The Bard (voiced by Cary Elwes) who is more interested in women, wine, and coin than adventuring. He uses his magic for his own personal gain. Being pulled into an adventure to save a damsel in distress and stop an evil sorcerer was the last thing on his mind. So of course... that's what happens. And so our story begins... The game serves more as a vessel for crude humor, snarky remarks, and breaking the 4th wall. This may not be for everybody but certain lines are bound to make you chuckle. As for the gameplay, it's not bad at all. The game is solid, simple, and different from most fantasy games. Rather than having convoluted tech trees and a long list of abilities, The Bard's Tale focuses on simple top-down combat and using summons. My main complaint is the repetitiveness of the combat. Some segments felt like they were there to pad the game time and give you more experience but gaining new summons and the occasional weapon upgrade help to keep things a bit more fresh. Overall, I had a lot of fun playing this game and enjoying some sharp wit and silly songs while exploring a unique Scottish fantasy setting.

For those who are fans of the original games, the original Bard's Tale trilogy from the 80s now comes with this game. I haven't played them but I've heard that The Bard's Tale (2004) hardly resembles the original games. With 4 games in 1, this may be enough to hold you until the release of the newly kickstarted The Bard's Tale IV.

This was a fun tale. I especially liked the dialogues and how funny all the characters were, even those that seemed too serious. Take your instruments out, it's time to jam.

+) Good and funny story which also has just enough richness.+) Easy mapping and puzzles.

-) Zoom in/out changes itself almost everytime.-) The angle changing of maps makes the game play inconvenient.-) It is hard to distinguish certain things from the map, such as chests. You have to open your eyes open, real wide, Haha.

The Bard's Tale is a great casual RPG that takes you back to gaming as it was nearly ten years ago. So be prepared for a top down third person view most of the time. What makes it most enjoyable are the bawdy humor in the dialog and the lyrics to the songs.

Our hero in the game, The Bard, is not really a hero; but a scounderal given to snarky comments and possessed of an ability to get himself into trouble. His comments are not limited to dialog with NPC's. He is equally capable of taking issue with the narrator and both seem to have a mutual hate relationship which adds to the fun. You'll also encounter Scottish, English and French accents with a healthy dose of Scottish words for things, which is fitting for story based on legends from the Orkney Islands of Scotland.

The Bard needs to recruit a team to help rescue a damsel in distress and true to his character, he's not willing to help without a reward, which the damsel offers. That offer ought to make you chuckle. Along the way you'll summon many creatures and finally figure out which ones are most useful to you. After that you'll have an opportunity to really wreak mayhem and get yourself into some interesting situations. The game is full of cliche's on purpose and they spice it up instead of detract from game-play. And of course there are always complications along the way to add dimension to the game.

The screen resolution choices are based on what was available at release time. Don't fuss over them too much. Pick the largest resolution with the same ratio as your screen and it ought to look fine anyway. Works fine on a 1900x1200 monitor.

It can be played with a controller, but you may find the onscreen prompts to be confusing and awkward. If you do use a controller, you can find a useful list of controls at http://www.gamefly.com/Rent-The-Bard%27s-Tale/109860/GameplayControls/ - seriously though, the game is best player with a mouse and keyboard. It just works better for a game this old.

The original game was released in 1985 and twenty years later this version was released with much improved graphical content and music. If you want the full retro experience, the menu system will let you load up the original game and have a go at it.

If you want to get a feel for the music and dialog in the 2005 version of the game, I would recommend these YouTube videos:

I just replayed a bit of the game on my Win gaming rig, but it will play equally well on a computer with low graphics capabilities. Worked just fine on a stripped down Mac Mini when I played it a few months back. (Disclaimer - used non-Steam version on my Mac.)

I enjoyed the game from the very beginning till the very end and probably will replay it at least once sometime later to buy all the extras (funny songs and arts there) and find two last tunes. The game is short enough (about 20 to 25 hours of gameplay tops, and you level cap could be achieved easily) but very funny and costs every cent of its price.

The strongest part of the game are its witty dialogues and excellent voicing, however the plot is not so bad too and jokes are good (and yes, I’m almost forty). Combat is simple, especially with a bow and easy mode (which affects only start attributes and number of save points, so don’t bother with harder difficulty). This game is really a game, not some kind of computer sport where you need huge guides on spell usage and skills allocation. Still, the summons are fun and efficient, the weapons are sparse but don't become obsolete too fast. You are free to experiment. Save points number and location are well chosen. Songs and music are awesome! I sing them under my nose now and then.

In short I like the game, the way it is designed, its gameplay and humour. If you are not combat-obsessed power gamer try it. If you are, still try it to for a change.